[Sigfreed]

Hi Jim-

I believe i have the same mod done to my minimax that you have but i am not sure.It was modded from the original and it is about a year old.I believe all of the new minimax's have this mod that come from Bill but i am not positive.Perhaps you have even more of a mod then mine?I do not know.I do know that mine has at least one Auricap capacitor inside and a better power supply i believe Bill said and maybe a few other things that i am not aware.But i do know it was sold to me as the upgraded minimax.Perhaps Bill is even taking it to another level that i am unaware of.I would definitely like to know this if this is true so perhaps i should call him and see.I do love the sound of mine and yes it is very quiet and i love the play i have with that volume control.It does sound fantastic with the Sig 30 and i love the flexibility the preamp adds to my system in conjunction with the Sig's attenuator.I find my self adjusting both all of the time for different moods,times of day and recordings.Very nice!

I have swapped in a bunch of NOS tubes that Bill recommended and yes the improvement has been wonderful indeed!I know i am able to use the 6414 tube so perhaps it is the same mod that you have Jim

thanks,
Craig

[jrebman]

Craig,

Yes, probably the only way to know is to call Bill.  I was under the impression that this is a fairly recent, but who knows how long that is, revision.

I haven't done a lot of experimenting with the gain control on the amps and the volume control on the pre -- I just found that backing the 70s off about 7 or 8 steps from full open seems to give me plenty of fine control with the pre.

I'm thrilled that I can roll tubes again .  Next in line is a top-notch Amperex Bugle Boy -- the most expensive tube in my collection (so we'll see if it is worth it.)

Best,

Jim

[Vinnie R.]

I do love the sound of mine and yes it is very quiet and i love the play i have with that volume control.It does sound fantastic with the Sig 30 and i love the flexibility the preamp adds to my system in conjunction with the Sig's attenuator.I find my self adjusting both all of the time for different moods,times of day and recordings.Very nice!

Hi Craig,

Yes, you can cut back on the gain of the Sig 30 (ie, turning the DACT stepped attenutor volume control down on the Sig 30)... which will require you to turn up the volume more on the tubed premap... and vice-versa, to change the flavor of the sound a little bit.  I expenienced this with another tubed preamp (6922 based) a while back that I heard with the Sig 30.  When the tubed preamp had to be turned up more on the volume (because the gain of the Sig 30 was set down a bit), the sound appear to be more lush... warmer, sweeter, and just more "relaxed."  When the gain of the Sig 30 was turned up higher, the tubed preamp didn't need to be turned up as much on the volume knob and the sound was definitely more alive... more dynamic and more punch!

YMMV with different make and models of tubed premaps, but this is what I found.  Is this your experience as well?  Just curious... kind of fun to play with this!

Thanks,

Vinnie

[Sigfreed]

Hey Vinnie!-

Yes absolutely, that is exactly what i am experiencing using my tube preamp(EE Minimax)! Sometimes i want to hear more warmth, lushness and sweetness and other times more detail and punch.It is wonderful to have the option to play around to find what i am after for my mood that day or for what i am looking for from a particular recording.I love it.So i am not crazy then afterall.......   

Craig

[onemug]

Craig,  Isn't that just the genius of Vinnie and the Sig 30 !  Most of my sources into my tube pre have around 2 volts and I have the Dact dialed in BUT my Marantz 10b has only 1 volt output and I would have to turn up the pre more to get the same volume and maybe take it out of its ultimate sweet spot but all I need to do is turn up the Dact a few clicks and I'm where I want to be. At the speaker end of the chain if you were to buy speakers that were more sensitive, or less, all  you would have to do is adjust the Dact. Then, whether it's mood (like you said) or software that needs a push one way or another, you have that option.

Another glimpse into the mind of Vinnie: I was speaking to him on the phone about another matter when I remembered something I was just a llittle curious about. Why does the charger for the Lotus ( Louis's wood bodied Clari-T) have 2 prongs and the Sig 30 charger have 3?  It took him about 5 seconds to come up with, "I don't know, maybe because of the weight of it". Bingo. I've seen some power cords that didn't weigh as much sag out of some wall sockets. I like a mind like that.  Enjoy the music.

[Vinnie R.]

It is wonderful to have the option to play around to find what i am after for my mood that day or for what i am looking for from a particular recording.I love it.So i am not crazy then afterall.......   

Hi Craig,

You are NOT crazy... I repeat, NOT crazy! 

Based on how you set the gain of the Sig 30, you will have to turn the volume up on your tubed preamp more or less.  This might not be true with all tubed preamps, but with the one I tried, it did sound different when I had turned it up more (past 1pm) vs. when I had it playing lower (11am and lower). 

Craig,  Isn't that just the genius of Vinnie and the Sig 30 !

Hi onemug,

Yes, this is what I wanted to make the Sig 30... a power amp with adjustable gain.  A true integrated amp would have an input select switch, but based on feedback from my Clari-T-Amp customers, I knew that there were going to be people in 3 different camps:

Camp 1: Those who want to use a tubed-preamp, which would already have the input select feature.  Adding input select to the Sig 30 would then just be more in the signal path.

Camp 2:  Those who want to keep it as simple and pure as possible.  They simply connect their favorite source directly to the Signature 30... very transparent to the source, and if the source is also battery powered, you are off the grid! 

Camp 3: Those who don't want to use an active preamp (they are in Camp 2 above in this regard) but DO want to select between multiple inputs... I decided to make the Signature 3S.  The beauty of the Sig 3S is that is doesn't have another volume control in the path like a passive preamp (be it a TVC, or any other passive preamp design)... The Signature 3S is simply a top-quality DACT input select switch in a matching enclosure (using the same internal wiring of the Sig 30 and same Vampire RCA jacks).

While I do like how you call it "genius,"  aa  it is really just me gathering feedback from numerous Clari-T customers of the past and seeing how they use it.  I decided that the best way to make the Signature 30 attractive to everyone was to make it a power amp with adjustable passive volume ala DACT CT2.... I have never looked back! 

Bingo. I've seen some power cords that didn't weigh as much sag out of some wall sockets. I like a mind like that.  Enjoy the music.

After chatting with you about that the other day, I opened up a charger and found that I guessed correctly.... the GND prong was not even connected to anything! 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Loftprojection]

You forgot camp 4 Vinnie:

People who would like to have a 3S incorporated with a Sig30 in one box!  Ho, would that be called an integrated then?   

Ok, I know you don't want to look back, sorry, I couldn't resist. 

[kbuzz3]

stupid question but i can find my instx manua. How does one wire up a sig 30 for use with a pre amp? 

Simple....you plug in the preamp output IC's into the top inputs on the Sig. 30....rear 30 photo..
Then set the amp volume...say half way....and adjust your preamp volume to where you like it.
 

Thanks for the response to this I am going to try it this weekend. Another idiot question. Where do i take the rca inputs to my sub? From the 2nd pair of pre amp outputs or from the red wine output?

[jrebman]

You'll want to take the sub outputs off the Sig 30 -- that way any changes to the gain setting on the amp will effect the level going to the sub as well.  If you took the sub inputs from the preamp, you would have to readjust the output level on the sub every time you change the position of the attenuator on the Sig 30.

HTH,

Jim

[kbuzz3]

Thank you from the set up challenged

[Vinnie R.]

Hi kbuzz3,

If your active preamp has two sets of volume-controlled RCA outputs, I would recommned connecting the second set of RCA outputs to the RCA inputs of your sub.  When your raise and lower the volume on your preamp, this will raise/lower the output of the Sig 30 as well as the sub... so they will raise/lower together.  You simply need to set the gain of the Sig 30 (the setting on the Sig 30s volume control) that will allow you to have a nice, useable range out of your active preamp's volume control.

Best regards,

Vinnie

[kbuzz3]

Ok so after stalling for close to a year, i finally tried the sig 30 with a tube pre amp.  While you do lose that spooky good, clean crystal clear transparency, you do gain the warmth and bloom that has always drawn me to tube pres.

It does seem counter intuitive to use a powered tube pre and lose the beauty of going off the grid, the sound does remain quiet and enjoyable.  Even more enjoyable then I thought. Nice combo which takes the edge of the highest treble.  Now I must qualify this post as to say i have a veyr very bright room and had i been able to tame some of the high frequency spitiness in my room i dont think i would have ever tried. All in all, very much worth the time to try a tube pre with the sig 30s.

My gut feeling is that this set up would only be benefical to those tube amps which actually sound like tubes. In my case a joule electra. I think it would be redundant to add AC power, and an additional set of ICs if your pre is solid state.

[Whitese]

I think a good balance would be not to have a tube pre but drive some vintage paper cone speakers....good balance i believe.

[miklorsmith]

I have the 70's with paper drivers (though modern) in the Zu Definitions and the tubed pre definitely brings something welcome to the table.  They are not inherently warm speakers like the Druids, which might be just fine on their own.